SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- There has been an enigma running around San Francisco 49ers practices this offseason.

The long-legged, quick-footed, hair-no-longer-braided blur wears No. 84. He still pulls his socks up high, talks with a country twang and goes by Randy Moss.

Even on a team that rarely recognizes individuals, this new presence has been impossible to miss.

"It's neat to watch our players watch a guy like Randy, that people watched growing up," 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh said. "We have two fields. The defensive field is on the far right, and the offensive field is here on the left. I can always see the defensive players looking over."

Time to give everybody a sneak peek.

After a year away from football, Moss makes his much-anticipated 49ers debut at Candlestick Park on Friday night, Aug. 10, when resurgent San Francisco faces the franchise that drafted the wide receiver and later brought him back for a disastrous second stint, the Minnesota Vikings, in the preseason opener for both teams.

"Ah, is that right? I think I heard that," joked Vikings cornerback Antoine Winfield, who was around for Moss' two stints in Minnesota. "Good player."

Just how good?

Nobody quite knows for sure what to make of the 35-year-old Moss. Heck, nobody has quite known for sure for most of his career.

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Will he be the Moss who caught a single-season-record 23 touchdown passes to help New England to a 16-0 regular-season record in 2007, the one who turned Minnesota's Metrodome into a highlight factory and put up video-game-like numbers for most of his career?

Or will it be the not-afraid-to-say-anything Moss whose effort and ability were questioned after perplexing exits in New England, Minnesota and Tennessee during a wild, rocky 2010 season?

So far, so good.

Moss has mentored San Francisco's remolded receiver corps -- Mario Manningham, Michael Crabtree, Ted Ginn Jr., Kyle Williams and first-round pick A.J. Jenkins of Illinois -- all offseason. He has attended every scheduled workout and meeting and still has teammates past and present praising his professionalism despite the way things have always ended.

"The great thing about being around Randy is, he keeps it light," quarterback Alex Smith said. "He makes it fun to play out there. So that vanished pretty quickly. He's a great communicator out there."